AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 254.01 FROM AMSAT HQ

SILVER SPRING, MD, SEPTEMBER 10, 2000

TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS

BID: $ANS-254.01



The space shuttle Atlantis and its seven-man crew enjoyed a smooth

launch Friday morning from the Kennedy Space Center. A short,

two-and-a-half-minute launch window opened and Atlantis lifted

off right on time as it headed toward its docking berth on the

International Space Station.



On board Atlantis is the initial Amateur Radio station for ISS.

The equipment, part of the multi-national ARISS project, will be

stowed aboard the ISS until the Expedition 1 crew arrives in late

October.



The ARISS initial station gear will be installed temporarily aboard the

Functional Cargo Block module and will use an existing antenna that

will be adapted to support 2-meter FM voice and packet. The ARISS

equipment will get a more-permanent home aboard the Service Module

in 2001, along with VHF and UHF antennas. Plans call for amateur TV,

both slow scan and fast scan ATV, a digipeater and relay stations.

Frequencies and operating plans will be announced well in advance

of their use.



Planning for the deployment and use of the ham system aboard ISS has

been an international effort coordinated by NASA's Goddard Space Flight

Center. The effort began in 1996 with the formation of the Amateur Radio

International Space Station organization. ARISS is made up of delegates

from major national Amateur Radio organizations, including AMSAT.



The United States has provided hand held equipment for 2-meters and

70 centimeters. The Russian team has provided ports so that antennas

can be mounted outside the Service Module. The Italian team designed

and built the antennas and a German team has provided sophisticated

repeater stations.



A Russian call sign, RZ3DZR, has been issued for the ISS ham station.

A German call sign, DL0ISS, also has been issued, and a US call sign

will be applied for.



A very nice article on the ARISS project was recently published by

SpaceDaily. The article is available at the following URL:



http://www.spacedaily.com/news/iss-00zzb.html



More information about the project can be found on the ARISS web site

at:



http://ariss.gsfc.nasa.gov



By early Sunday morning shuttle Atlantis has closed in for a

rendezvous with ISS -- a complicated job made even tougher by a

failed navigation device. One of Atlantis' two star trackers was

deemed unusable, forcing the crew to add a few flip-flop maneuvers

to their repertoire.



As Atlantis inched closer, the station revealed itself to be an interesting

collection of  modules and nodes -- some 13 stories high. The docking

maneuver was successfully completed without incident and "was

textbook" according to NASA officials.



This was the third time a U.S. shuttle had docked at the orbital

construction site. The Atlantis crew will spend at least five days

outfitting the station in advance of the first long-duration crew's

arrival in November.



The shuttle has enough fuel to extend the 11-day mission one additional

day, giving the crew enough time to begin installation work that would

otherwise be left for future crews. NASA said a firm decision on any

possible extension of the flight will not be made until docked

operations are well underway.



[ANS thanks ARISS, NASA, the ARRL, Roy Neal, K6DUE, Steven Bible,

N7HPR, and Florida Today for this information]